Project Updates

IREX is pleased to announce the winners of the Spring 2013 Cultural Passport to America competition for the Global UGRAD – Pakistan program. The competition recognizes the accomplishments of participants who were exemplary cultural ambassadors during their stay in the US.

IREX is pleased to announce the recipients of the Spring 2013 TEA/ILEP Alumni Small Grants competition. IREX, in conjunction with an independent selection committee and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S.

Twenty-six journalists from Baku and nearby regions participated in two different workshops about Data Mapping and Online Journalism, organized by IREX Azerbaijan in early April. The 5-day sessions were hosted by IREX's New Media Project, funded by USAID and led by International consultant Dan Mason. Media specialists learned how to use new online tools to access news and information, building their skills and confidence.

Finding ways to promote e-governance has become a priority for local governments around the world. Even though a diversity of government e-services are available in Ukraine, some challenges remain about ways to promote the national-scale adoption by citizens. In response, IREX-Bibliomist, the Ministry of Culture, and the National Parliamentary Library of Ukraine launched an e-governance initiative to promote e-governance services with the help of NGOs and libraries.

In honor of International Roma Day (April 8), the U.S. Embassy in Romania recognized Romani CRISS for 20 years of dedicated work promoting Roma rights.

“I used to be kind of a problem kid,” chuckled Erzhan Kubat-uulu, a high school student in Kyrgyzstan’s isolated northwestern province of Talas, “My parents were often asked to come to school because of my behavior.”

This year, Erzhan got involved with a new drama club that opened at his school through USAID’s Youth Theater for Peace program. “I invited my parents to come see one of our drama performances,” he stated. “Afterward, I felt for the first time they were not ashamed because of me, they were proud.”

On a sunny January day in Islamabad, Pakistan, reporter Mark Albert recently sat down to interview Farhan about his experience as an exchange student in Minnesota.  Farhan spent a semester at Minnesota State University, Mankato where he studied mechanical engineering and served as a cultural ambassador through the Global UGRAD-Pakistan Program.

Dr. Joyce Corbett, a museum curator and independent researcher of folk art, received an IREX travel grant to Romania in 1976 to conduct research on folk costumes and textiles. Dr. Corbett recently shared with IREX about her how her research has evolved to investigate cross-cultural influences across national boundaries and where her research has taken her since her first trip to Eastern Europe.

How did your experience in the field lead to where you are now?

With the support of a tuition assistance program, Aiman Idegeeva now gives back to the community that never gave up on her — an orphanage in Kazakhstan. In exchange for a grant that allows her to attend college, she helps inspire orphaned children to work hard, seek education and envision a better future.

Eleven people in Goychay learned how to set up blogs last week, during training organized by IREX and its partner Regional Cooperation and Community Development Center (RCCDC).

The new bloggers are high school teachers, engineers and high school students. They registered blog addresses, then uploaded pictures and videos. Within the hour, they were delighted to find that dozens of people online in Azerbaijan, Germany and the USA were already viewing the new websites.